The resources in this collection are amazing because they provide excellent strategies, plans, and activities that are super interesting - making it easier to engage the notoriously unimpressed pre-teen/adolescent. Besides being entertaining, the resources here also provide an exploration of Memorial Day that is both historical and relevant, thought-provoking, and built upon other academic content areas.

The articles, pictures, and videos provided on the History.com Memorial Day web page are entertaining, informative, and interactive, making this a great resource! Students can access the resources independently to extend what they are learning, or in small research groups, or the materials can be used for whole group instruction.

This middle school Memorial Day packet created by Educators' Friend is well worth the small price! I personally love this packet because it not only contains vocabulary and reading comprehension, but because it also includes resources for math - the content area most often left out of holiday packets.

ScribbleLive provides a number of amazing infographics related to Memorial Day! I really like that they range from general overviews of the holiday, to graphics showing the influence of women in the military, to pictographs showing causalities from specific wars. Because of the variety, these infographics can be used as posters, discussion prompts, and more.

This animated video by Educational Videos for Students does an outstanding job of exploring the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its significance to Memorial Day. This video is excellent as a stand-alone lesson, as part of a larger exploration of national monuments and memorials, or as a discussion or research resource.

This list of printable and online Memorial Day activities are not only instructional gold, but they are also entertaining enough to keep middle school minds engaged. I like that each activity includes a brief description of the type (printable or online) as well as the difficulty level.

The Memorial Day website has compiled a great list of speeches, essays, articles, presidential remarks, and more that can be used for whole group, small group, and independent learning. The resources included are a great way to generate discussion, to use as essay prompts or as research topics.

The instructional resources related to Memorial Day provided by ReadWriteThink.org are awesome! Not only are several great lesson plans and activities included, but there are also links to interactives and resources for students to use outside of school. I especially like the detail included in the lesson plans and the student interactive "Hero's Journey" will definitely engage your students during independent learning.